Israeli military experts aiding Georgia in war with Russia

[ 10/08/2008 - 11:40 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)--

Israeli military experts are actively aiding Georgian forces battling Russian-backed rebels in the Caucasus.

Israeli sources said former Israeli occupation forces officers were giving “military advice” to Georgian troops seeking to seize the southern breakaway autonomous of South Ossetia.

The sources added that “Georgia’s Israeli connections” was apparent in the “successes of the Georgian army” in repulsing Russian forces.

Georgia said its forces downed 10 Russian combat warplanes and destroyed more than 40 Russian tanks.

Many of the weapon systems used by the Georgian army against the Russians are Israeli-made and Israeli technicians were reportedly deployed to Tiblisi to train Georgians.

On Saturday, Russian diplomats in Israel formally protested Israeli military support to Georgia.

Worried that that Russia might choose to retaliate against Israel by lifting restrictions on its advanced arms transfers to Arabs states and Iran, the Israeli foreign ministry has recommended a complete halt to the sale of arms to Georgia.

The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz on Sunday quoted “unnamed senior political sources” at the foreign ministry as saying that Israel shouldn’t antagonize Russia.

“Israel needs to be very careful and sensitive these days. The Russians are selling many arms to Iran and Syria and there is no need to offer them an excuse to sell even more advanced weapons.

“The day we will want to prevent the sale of more advanced Russian weapon to Iran, our hands must be clean.”

Israeli-made arms sold to Georgia include laser-guided anti-tank missiles, military drones as well as infra-red night-vision equipment.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.